Hoyo de Monterrey (Habanos)

A friend gave me some Cuban piramids, including this 6.1×52 Hoyo de Monterrey piramid, a vitola that is not in regular production. It was released in 2003 for a ‘seleccion piramides’, a box with 5 piramids, the mentioned Hoyo de Monterrey but also Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta and Partagas.
The wrapper is dark for a Cuban cigar and oily with a few veins. The cigar has a strong barnyard smell. The construction is a bit inconsistant. The predraw is great and I taste tobacco with a spicy aftertaste.
I taste a peppery spice on the tongue but also mild fresh and some wood, but the wood tastes different than anything I ever tasted before in a cigar. After half an inch I also get some citrus and sweetness.
A few puffs later the cigar turns peppery again with a sour flavor on the background and that strange wood flavor. After an inch I also get some chocolate. Halfway I mainly taste citrus with a very spicy aftertaste. This flavor is what sticks with me till it is time to rest the nub in the ashtray.
Even though this is a six inch cigar, it only lasts me for sixty-five minutes. I got a decent amount of medium thick smoke. The draw is good, just like the burn. The ash is silvergray, coarse, frayed and firm. I got a huge flame when I purged. This cigar is full flavored and medium bodied.
Would I buy this cigar again? No, Hoyo just ain’t my marca.

3 years ago I reviewed this 4×50 Hoyo de Monterrey petit robusto but forgot to take pictures. This is my first Hoyo de Monterrey petit robusto since, I bought it to update my old review with pictures and decided to review the new cigar too.
The wrapper is silky, somewhat dark and it has quite some veins. The cigar smells of leather and barnyard. The construction feels good and the predraw is fine. I can hardly taste anything in the predraw. The cigar has a € 8.40 price tag in The Netherlands
I taste peppery leather and coffee, quite full and strong and after half an inch the pepper disappears and the leather becomes mild sweet. Soon after the cigar flavors change to an earthy flavor with some leather and quite some herbs on the background with some pepper.
Halfway the leather disappears, I taste an earthy flavor with herbs. After two thirds the sweetness returns with the herbs and some leather. The earthy flavor has gone. Near the end I even taste a licorice like flavor.

It took me an hour to finish this short stogie. I got a lot of smoke which was reasonably thick. The silver-gray ash is firm. The draw is great but I had to correct the burn a few times. This cigar is full flavored and medium bodied.
Would I buy this cigar again? I might, I am not as impressed as I was 3 years ago

I found this 7 x 48 Double corona in my humidor and thought “well, I have some time to kill, why not smoke a large stick today” so I clipped it with my Palio and lit it. The wrapper of this Cuban cigar was pretty light colored and had lots of veins. The construction felt a bit under filled but the predraw was fine and left me with a very peculiar flavor of chewing gum, something I have never experienced before. The cigar didn’t have a lot of aroma. As it was a single I don’t know the age of this stick.
I could taste leather, dry leather, typical Cuban leather though, just dry and a mild creamy feeling in my mouth with a hit of chocolate. After an inch I get some pepper too, but leather seems to be the main and strongest flavor. At 1/2nd the cigar gains some power and at 2/3rd some nut flavor joins the party. I could also taste something fresh, but can’t describe what it was.
The smoke is thin but there is enough of it. The ash is frayed and light gray. I would rate this cigar medium bodied medium flavored.
Would I buy this cigar again? Possibly yeah.

This nice, small Cuban has a funny appearance due to the small size of just 102mm and the 50 ring which makes it look a bit like a chopped off thumb. It has a firm feel, which usually means that the construction is good, an aroma which reminds me of a stable, a nice light oily wrapper and a sweet predraw with a light hint of raisins.
First flavor is wood, combined with a soft leather, much softer than the average Cuban and later on a hint of cacao. The flavors combine perfectly and are all very creamy, soft and warm. Well constructed, perfectly balanced flavors, draw is fine. The only negative I can mention is a bit crooked burning and the medium smoke, I like smoke to be full and thick. Ash is pretty firm and very dark.
Would I buy this cigar again? Yes, I liked it, don’t let the size fool you.

Yet another review of a Cuban cigar, the Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure 1, 143mm long and ring 46. The wrapper is pretty even though it has quite some veins and spots.
The predraw is easy and I can already taste a light raisin flavor, just like but not as strong as at the Hoyo de Monterrey epicure 2. After lighting the cigar I can’t taste the raisins anymore but I taste tobacco and smooth leather, at a quarter of the cigar there is a brief hint of cacao on the background which disappears soon. Halfway the leather grows stronger, the cacao returns but the tobacco still wins the battle of the flavors. It’s is a perfect mix of flavors.
I didn’t discover lots of flavors or a complex palate but the constant taste is very nice, smooth and full. The cigar gives a medium to full, white and pretty smoke and a dark frayed ash. The burn is nice and steady, even though the cigar had to be relit halfway because it stopped burning.
Would I buy this cigar again? Yes, definitely.
Appearance: 8 / 10
Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 8 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 8 / 10
Aroma first part: 8 / 10
Aroma second part: 7 / 10
Aroma third part: 8 / 10

The 125mm long ring 50 Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No.2 is the ‘cigar of the month’ at sigarenliefhebber.nl and so here is my review.

It is a beautiful cigar, nice oily wrapper, the color is great and even, it looks smooth and the pretty band finishes the looks. You can clearly see that the manufacturer took good care of this cigar

Cutting the cigar was very easy and the predraw was fine, not too hard but not too easy to. I could taste a sweet flavor at the predraw which reminded me of raisin. The raisin flavor was clear and strong when I lit the cigar, sweet, raisins and a hint of leather. What a disappointment, I don’t like raisin. Grapes should be used to make wine, not to dry them and turn them into raisin. As the cigar progressed I could also taste some wood flavors, but the raisin sweetness is still the lead singer of the flavor band. At a third of the cigar the sweetness steps a bit back and a hint of cacao shows up, with a light pepper on the background, but I can’t say that it’s a full flavor. Actually, the flavor seems to weaken more and more, only at the end the cacao makes a bit of a comeback. Lack of flavor, that is my opinion about this cigar.

The smoke is medium, it could and should have been a bit thicker and the ash is terrible to see, very frayed and it has some color differences. One part was dark gray and then there was a part light gray.